Re: PostgreSQL as an application server

Jonathan,

This is exactly how my company has built a very robust ERP application.  See www.openmfg.com.

All the ERP business logic is in pl/pgsql (20,000+ lines, very high fiber content).  The GUI is the Qt framework for
C++,which gives us a client in Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and even wireless (embedded Linux) - with one source tree to
maintain. Bringing up various web views into the system (using python, PHP, etc) is a snap as well.
 

Performance is outstanding, as you would expect.  We have commodity Intel servers running Linux typically serving
dozensof concurrent users of a very transaction-intensive system.
 

Cheers,
Ned Lilly




Jonathan M. Gardner wrote:

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> Consider this. Most (well-written) applications are written in three 
> layers. The data abstraction layer provides a clean interface to the 
> underlying data so other people don't have to write SQL statements. The 
> GUI layer handles all the GUI events and translates them into function 
> calls or attribute modifications. Then the layer in between coordinates 
> the two and often handles more complicated business rules.
> 
> A few nights ago, I implemented some of my application logic in PostgreSQL 
> via PL/PythonU. I was simply amazed at what I was able to do. My question 
> becomes: Why not get rid of the middle layer and move it into the databse 
> entirely?
> 
> The GUI layer would then merely connect to the database and just connect 
> user actions to actions in the database, and then suck all the data it 
> needs disrectly from the databsae with a simple interface. Think SOAP, 
> but where the SOAP server is on the PostgreSQL, and without all the nasty 
> overhead.
> 
> The layer on top of the database would provide proxy objects that the GUI 
> could access and modify. These accesses and modifications are translated 
> into accesses and modifications of the objects underneath. All the 
> business logic is stored in the database server.
> 
> Thoughts? Comments? Hasn't Oracle done something like this?